The members of Mudhoney were all integral participants in the incestuous and intertwined Northwest music scene. To make any sort of sense of their vast contributions would require a computer program - which actually exists. From Dan Peters, who was a backbone of the early scene, and who has played in countless bands including Nirvana, Screaming Trees and the Fastbacks, to Matt's work with the Melvins, to Steve and Mark's time spent in the seminal Green River, the history of Northwest rock can not be told without including the members of Mudhoney.

The first time one of the guys became involved in a band in the early 1980's when Mark MacLaughlin (known better by his stage name, Arm) and some of his fellow Bellevue Christian High School students, formed Mr. Epp and the Calculations, named for one of the school's math teachers. They weren't so much a band that did things like write songs and play shows as they were a band that would design posters for shows that didn't exist and would "practice" by banging on pots and pans. Two promoters and the eventual founders of Pravda records, Marie Masco and Dennis White, had seen the posters put up around Seattle, and enjoyed the band's irreverence. They happened to stumble upon Mark and fellow band-mate Joe Smitty putting up some more of the posters and began yelling to the two teens. Thinking that they were about to be attacked, they ran. Far from that, they wanted the guys to put on a real show. When met with the offer, Mark's response was "Gee, I guess we'd better get some instruments!"

Soon after that, Mark joined another group, the Limp Richerds. Both bands recorded, but while the Limp Richerds had a small recorded output, most notably a split tape with A Rancid Vat, and many of the releases featured a lineup without Mark, Mr. Epp appeared on a tremendous number of records. They were mainly compilations, but also included the Of Course I'm Happy, Why? five song 7", and a few video compilations. Mr. Epp also released a live album, Mr. Epp Live As All Get Out. The majority of the tracks were culled from a show at the Metropolis in Seattle on August 12th, 1983, while the other songs were taken from several shows. Numerous posthumous releases were also made, including both live and studio tracks, chiefly among them "Stairway to Heaven", a song composed of rock cliches.

Neither of the two bands was particularly renowned in a positive sense. Of Mr. Epp, Mark said, "we kind of enjoyed the fact that people thought we were the worst band in the city," while Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden said "The Limp Richerds were pretty bad, but they were trying to be bad."

It was during this time that Matt Lukin, growing up in Aberdeen, WA, a small community approximately a two-hour drive from Seattle, in southwestern Washington became involved in playing music with others. As a teenager, he played on the same baseball team as a young Kurt Cobain, and joined a local band called the Melvins. Named for a hated co-worker of singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne at the local supermarket, the Melvins started out by playing charged versions of songs by Jimi Hendrix and the Who. They later mutated into something heavier; a more stereotypical sludgy grunge sound.

Mark first met Steve Turner in 1982, introduced by a mutual acquaintance, Alex Shumway. At the time, Steve was in a band called the Ducky Boys. After they disbanded, Shumway wanted Steve to join his band, Spluii Numa, which he did for a short period of time, alongside future Mudhoney accountant, Keith Strobel. The guys in the band dressed preppy and played melodic punk rock. Many people liked them, but Mark was not one of their supporters, saying of the band, "they were a cheap attempt to reach the kids by playing songs that sounded like Social Distortion or GBH. They had two kinds of songs: their GBH songs and their Social Distortion songs. The whole point was to make kids like them, which was not the point of Mr. Epp or Limp Richerds."

Steve soon left them for both Mr. Epp and the Limp Richerds, after an invitation from Mark. Steve had the misfortune of joining the Limp Richerds in the midst of their demise. After three months of practice, and before Steve and a chance to perform live with the band, the Limp Richerds called it quits.

Mr. Epp's days were also numbered, and their sound was changing. Steve recounted that "they played really fast, and they didn't know how to play. But when I joined, Mark was learning, and it began to sound more like rock 'n' roll." Mark remembers it differently: "When Steve came in, he was just another guitarist that couldn't be heard over the bass, either." Mr. Epp didn't see the end of 1984.

Green River

In the Summer of 1984, their previous bands having disbanded, Mark, Steve and Alex Shumway, who during this period changed his last name to Vincent, decided to form a new band. Their only requirement for a bassist was that he have a distortion pedal. The only person that fit the bill was Missoula, Montana transplant and former member of Deranged Diction, Jeff Ament. There was one problem. As Steve later recounted, "I got a job where Jeff worked, and I talked to him about the band. But he didn't like Mr. Epp. He thought we were horrible! He didn't want to be in a band with us!" When Jeff finally relented, Green River, named for a infamous Pacific Northwest serial killer that was never apprehended, came into existence.

The band played a handful of shows during the next sixth months, debuting at a private party on July 1st. The 45-minute set featured an abbreviated version of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann." Soon after, Mark stopped playing guitar to concentrate on his vocals, but the sound wasn't large enough for them. Stone Gossard, former member of the Ducky Boys with Steve, and more recently in hardcore band March of Crimes for a short period of time with future Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepard, joined the band.

After another series of shows, including a slot opening for the Dead Kennedys in Seattle's Moore Theater, the band entered the studio in December to record the six song Come on Down EP with producer Chris Hanzek, for Homestead. The album went unreleased until late 1985. By that time, Steve had left the band several months earlier, in August, because of musical differences with the other members. As he put it, "Stoney and Jeff were like heavy metal kids. They were into Motorhead, and Stoney was really into Kiss. I was into the California hardcore, but I also liked the Clash, Devo and 999." He spent the next two years attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, while Green River replaced him with Bruce Fairweather, also late of Deranged Diction.

The newly formed lineup boldly set out on a truly disastrous tour of the United States. Dry as a Bone had not yet been released, and few people outside of the Northwest had heard of the group. Of the outing, Mark said "While Steve was safely in school we were stuck in the Midwest. We had seven shows altogether; it was kind of like a vacation; we all worked and saved up money for the tour. The problem was, no one knew anything about us." Come on Down had not yet been released, "so we didn't have any records out. We did two shows opening for Big Black: they had records, but there were still only 30 or 40 people there. We headlined CBGB's, playing to six people: four Japanese tourists and two people that worked there. I guess they liked us; all six stayed for the entire show. Maxwell's, in Hoboken, New Jersey, was pretty good as well.

"But Detroit was the worst. We opened for Sam Hain (now of Danzig) on Halloween, and everyone had this badass attitude. We're thinking it's going to be great: 'Yeah, the Stooges, MC5.' But these people just wanted everything fast. Jeff was wearing a pink tank top with 'San Francisco' in purple letters, and with his hair (big and flowing), well you can imagine. This one girl kept spitting at me, and Jeff put his foot out to block the spit. But this guy thought he was kicking her in the face. He was huge, and pulled Jeff right into the crowd. In the past, I've been pulled into the crowd, and Jeff rescued me, so now was my chance to help him out. But Jeff is a big guy, and I'm not. Still, I jumped in. The guy was a seven-foot-tall brick of a man; the only thing that saved our asses was an armed policeman."

The band recovered from the mishap well enough to conduct several recording sessions, from which came the Dry as a Bone EP, as well as a large number of tracks for compilations, and the "Together We'll Never" single. Dry as a Bone was the first release by a single band by a newly created record company, Sub Pop. The band also conducted a much more successful tour of the U.S., including a trip back to CBGB's, that was attended by Aerosmith's Joe Perry. A strong rumor existed that Perry would be producing Green River's new album, but it had no basis in fact.

Green River then began work on a follow-up to Dry as a Bone in August of 1987. Titled Rehab Doll, it was to have been released in late 1987 or early 1988. However, Sub Pop was experiencing extreme financial difficulties stemming from the release of Dry as a Bone and a Soundgarden EP, and had to push the date back until July of 1988. By that time, Green River had disbanded.

The musical differences that led Steve to exit the band were causing more conflict, mainly between Mark and the others. This internal strife came to a head during a show at the Scream in Los Angeles on October 24th, opening for Jane's Addiction. The band played a solid 45 minute set, but the apathetic audience had to be strongly cajoled by the M.C. to cheer for an encore. Green River came back on stage for the final songs of its existence, and performed a cover of Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" which segued into "Ain't Nothing to Do".

Of the show, Mark said in an interview with The Rocket "We went down to L.A. and had a guest list of 10 people, all of whom were from major labels. Only two of them came. Meanwhile, I wanted to get my friends in and they [the band] said 'No, it's really important that we get these industry people in.' But these people didn't give a shit about us; I'd rather have had my friends come in for free." The official split came one week later, at a practice on Halloween. "They said, 'This is the end.' I said, 'Okay, cool.' I could see it coming for a long time."

When Green River was a fledgling band, and until 1990, Steve was involved in a side-project christened the Thrown-Ups. Mark became a member soon after Steve. The Thrown-Ups were like Mr. Epp, only more so. Whereas Mr. Epp actually deigned to rehearse, The Thrown-Ups would have none of that. "Practices" consisted of discussing song titles and the next gimmick for a show. As Mark put it, "The only thought that went into the band was what sort of stupid-ass gimmick we were going to use." On various occasions, they appeared on stage covered in dirt and Pepsi, with flower cardboard cut-outs on their heads, with pants made out of garbage bags that contained whipped cream that were punctured so that the contents were shot at the audience, and once, for a Christmas show when they appeared as the Three Wise men and a sheep, because lead singer Edward Fotheringham couldn't get a baby Jesus costume together.

Leighton revealed the goings on of a typical Thrown-Ups practice when he said "It will consist of us sitting around and making up song titles. And, oh yeah, we like to talk about the concept of the band, not really practice or anything, but talk. "Mark and Steve's association with The Thrown-Ups ended in 1990 when faced with short notice for a concert, they couldn't think of a suitable gimmick, and decided not to perform. Bassist Leighton Beezer fired them on the spot.

With the end of Green River, Bruce, Stone and Jeff went onto The Lords of the Wasteland, which they later renamed Mother Love Bone. After that band broke up, Bruce joined Love Battery as a bassist, and Stone and Jeff formed Pearl Jam. Alex went to Japan and studied law.

Mudhoney

As Green River was breaking up, Steve had been begun jamming with Dan and Ed Fotheringham. The first time they got together, Steve started up the riff to The Thrown-Ups' "Bucking Retards" (later reused in "You Got It") and Dan tried to find a place to put a beat to it, but couldn't, and nearly didn't come back for a second get together. In early November, Mark called up Steve, and soon joined in these sessions.

Matt had also been changing what he was doing with music. He was fired from the Melvins in the early part of the year, mainly due to the inability of him and Buzz Osbourne to get along together. The Melvins promptly moved away, leaving for San Francisco on July 1.

On New Year's Day, 1988, Dan, Mark, Matt and Steve first got together to practice, with Matt making the long commute from Aberdeen – which he soon began doing quite often. They named themselves Mudhoney, after a Russ Meyer film of the same name. They did this despite the fact that no one in the band had actually seen the movie at the time. On April 19th, they made their first public performance, opening unbilled for Das Damen at the Vogue. In the summer, they had their first recording sessions with Jack Endino manning the controls. Sub Pop took a pair of songs from the sessions with Endino, "Touch Me I'm Sick" and "Sweet Young Thing (Ain't Sweet No More)" and on August 1st, released them as a very limited 7" single on brown vinyl in a plain sleeve. Like with most Green River releases, the record was delayed because of Sub Pop's financial difficulties.

The "Touch Me I'm Sick" single garnered both Sub Pop and the band attention and critical acclaim. It was followed by the release of the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP in October, named after the distortion pedals that Mark and Steve used, respectively, and released by Sub Pop. A slew of singles and tracks on compilations were released during this time, most notably their contribution to the Sub Pop 200 3x12" EP compilation that also featured songs by Green River and The Thrown-Ups, as well as the Fastbacks covering Green River's "Swallow My Pride", released in December. They then went on their first full scale tour, first heading off for a single gig in Europe at the Berlin Independence Days Music Festival, and then doing a full tour of the United States. The Stateside shows varied wildly in attendance, from the seven people that saw them in Lexington, KY to the 1,100 people that packed the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco a few weeks later.

They did a large tour of Europe in the spring, supporting Sonic Youth for the first few weeks. They began with a series of shows in the United Kingdom where Sub Pop's publicity department had worked wonders. As they made it farther East, they began encountering progressively less interested audiences who stood around and politely waited for Mudhoney to be done with their set so that they could see Sonic Youth. The frustration with the unreceptive audiences and what seemed like a never-ending tour itinerary culminated with a show in Nijmeegan, Netherlands on April 3rd. The day before, in Hamburg, Steve badly cut his hand on a broken car antenna on his way back from a trip to a record store. The injury required a trip to the hospital and by the time he was released, they barely had enough time to make it to the show in time. The three uninjured members of the band proceeded to get really drunk in the van on the way to the show, and they ended up making it to the venue minutes before they were supposed to go onstage. They were thrust in front of a large group of people waiting for Sonic Youth and things went downhill fast. "Well I was having none of that," Mark recalled. "These motherfuckers were gonna rock if I had to beat up everyone in the place. I jumped into the crowd, threw a few drunken waterlogged punches and got back on stage. No response, except maybe for confusion, so I cursed 'em and stormed off the stage expecting my boys to follow. They didn't. They were as baffled as the audience. So I'm backstage and they're playing the rest of "You Got It," then they go into "Need." I'm thinking, 'Great, they're gonna play the rest of the set without me. I could stay here like an ass or I could go out there like an ass and pretend like nothing happened.' After they played another song I sheepishly went out and joined my band. Did I tell you Steve played the whole set sitting down with a big ol' bandage on his hand? It must've been a strange show to watch. Nijmegen never invited us back."

In May, they finally made it back to the United Kingdom where a more receptive public and better times awaited them. In March, a series of articles Everett True had written for Melody Maker on the Seattle scene in general and Mudhoney in particular were published. Additionally, John Peel was doing his part to champion the Sub Pop bands on his BBC radio show. Peel was a great fan of both Mudhoney and Sub Pop, and hyped them to no end. With regard to Sub Pop 200, he told the London Observer "It is going to take something special to stop Sub Pop 200 being the set of recordings by which all others are judged." Mudhoney did a Peel session, and then played half a dozen shows. The most notable of these was a performance on May 12th, opened by Soundgarden. Mudhoney's UK press agent, Anton, put no less than 150 members of the press on the guest list to the show, and because of the buzz surrounding the band every last one of them showed up to witness the chaos. 10 minutes into the show, Mark jokingly invited the audience to join him onstage – and before he knew what was going on, they did. The guys ended up pressed against the back wall, unable to move. By the time that order was restored, the stage monitors were missing and the P.A. was trashed. After that was fixed, Mark invited people to climb on the P.A. stacks, which broke them again. In between all this chaos, they found time to play some songs, and the show received nearly unanimously glowing reviews from the legions of reporters that witnessed it.

Upon returning home from conquering the United Kingdom, they went into the studio with Jack Endino in July to record their first full length album. The self-titled album was released in a limited edition of 3,000 "collector's edition", which included a fold-out sleeve and a poster. Released at the same time was a 7" single from the album "This Gift" with a cover of the Mr. Epp song "Baby Help Me Forget" on the b-side.

On July 9th, Mudhoney took a break from recording to play The Moore Theater along with Nirvana and TAD at the "Sub Pop Lame Fest '89". Because of Seattle's restrictive liquor ordinances, all-ages shows were extremely difficult to set up, and none of the three bands had performed one in the city before. The Moore Theater – with a capacity of 1,350 – was completely sold out, making it by far the largest local show at the time.

1990 saw the band traveling to Australia for the first time in March. Other than that, they kept a relatively low profile. Steve wanted to take a break from touring, and went to Western Washington University to finish his degree in anthropology, leading to rumors that Mudhoney had broken up. These rumors were fueled when Dan performed with Nirvana and Screaming Trees, both of whom were looking for new drummers at the time. Dan played one show with Nirvana on September 22nd at the Motorsports International Garage in Seattle. Kurt Cobain and Krist Novaselic were considering asking Dan to join the band for a time, but reconsidered when they decided that they didn't want Mudhoney to disband, and instead recruited David Grohl from the Washington D.C. hardcore band Scream.

The band regrouped in December record a series of punk covers with Conrad Uno at his Egg Studios. A few months later, in the Spring of 1991, began to record their second full-length album. Conrad Uno's Egg Studios, named so for the empty egg cartons that cover the walls to dampen sound was the chosen location, and Uno manned the controls. The result, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge was at the time Sub Pop's most commercially successful release. In support of the album, Mudhoney spent the second half of 1991 and the first half of 1992 touring North America, Europe and Asia.

Sub Plop

In the Spring of 1992, the tension between Mudhoney and Sub Pop caused the band to leave the label. There had been problems between the two since the time that the self-titled record was released. While Mudhoney waited to receive their royalties, Sub Pop used the money they earned from selling that album to finance other projects and pay their creditors. The situation only got worse with the release of Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, with arguments about receiving royalties and accounting practices. The band couldn't get a straight answer from Sub Pop as to just how many records they were selling. In the middle of this, Sub Pop spent a lot of money - money that could have been spent paying bands they owed royalties to - to fly in the Afghan Whigs into Seattle to record. That was the last straw and Mudhoney decided to jump ship. After initial talks with Epic went nowhere, Mudhoney signed with Reprise, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., on which they soon released their third full-length album Piece of Cake.

In late summer, the movie Singles was released. A tale of twenty-somethings coping with their relationships with the Seattle music scene as the backdrop, it featured a very brief, non-speaking appearance by Mark, and tracks by many Seattle bands, including Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Mudhoney's contribution to the soundtrack, "Overblown," for which they were paid $20,000, cost them a mere $182 to record at Egg Studios – something that the guys couldn't resist laughing about to any person that would listen. The movie did decently at the box office, but the soundtrack went platinum.

They toured extensively behind the album, including a few shows in the Pacific Northwest in the fall in which Nirvana was the unannounced opening act, and a major tour of the U.S. in the spring. After they completed touring, Kurt Bloch of the Fastbacks recorded five songs for their Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew EP on August 1st. The entire recording lasted just 45 minutes, from 9:30 to 10:15 P.M. The two other songs on the album, "Deception Pass" and "Underide" were recorded during the sessions from Piece of Cake, and appeared as b-sides on the "Blinding Sun" and "Suck You Dry" singles, respectively. Reprise seemed responsive to the idea of an EP at first. After it was recorded and ready to go, the party line became that EPs were not their thing, and they really preferred full-length records.

Pearl Jam opened for Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the Gorge in George, WA on September 5th, 1993. For the last song of the night, Mark came on stage with beer in hand, thanked the band for the drink and sang on a cover of the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer." He shared the microphone with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, his two former band mates in Green River. Mudhoney then played second on the bill for a series of six dates, one of which was canceled due to problems with security, with Pearl Jam headlining in late November and early December. During a show in Las Vegas on November 30th, Mark and Steve came out during Pearl Jam's encore. With Chuck Treece of Urge Overkill replacing Alex Shumway, the reunited Green River had a great time trying to remember how to play "Swallow My Pride" and "Ain't Nothing to Do". They performed again on December 2nd in Reno, this time playing only "Ain't Nothing to Do" and helped out on drums by Treece, Eddie Vedder and Dave Abruzzesse of Pearl Jam, and Dan.

They went out on tour with Pearl Jam again in April of 1994 and then came back home to focus on writing and recording songs for their next album. recorded My Brother the Cow with Jack Endino at The Ranch in Seattle in October. Fans across the world received a preview of the album when Mudhoney performed three songs from the then forthcoming release during the Self-Pollution Radio broadcast on January 8th, 1995. The four and one-half hour show featuring such Seattle bands as the Fastbacks, Mad Season and Soundgarden, and hosted by Pearl Jam that was available for broadcast free of charge to any radio station that desired it. My Brother the Cow was released in March, and not long thereafter came a video compilation #1 Video in America This Week, containing all of Mudhoney's videos and some snippits from their performance in Seattle on 7/8/94.

The band went on a world tour in support of the album, going to the Pacific Rim with Pearl Jam in February and March, and then headlining its own shows in Europe and North America that lasted through July. After the tour, they made an appearance in the film Black Sheep, a comedy starring Chris Farley and David Spade of Saturday Night Live fame. In the movie, Mudhoney performed "Poisoned Water," at a Rock the Vote political rally. The soundtrack to the movie was never released, but a re-recorded version of the song would later appear on a Mudhoney album. At Steve's request, they took a hiatus from touring, playing only the occasional show. During this period, they made plans to release an album consisting of b-sides and rare or unreleased material, but the project kept getting pushed back for several years.

They performed sporadically in 1996 and early 1997, before they began having shows on a regular basis in Seattle, and occasionally in other cities. Some of the shows were done under the name "Beneath the Valley of the Underdog," a very poorly kept secret. On such occasions, they would perform sets of entirely new material. One of the shows done under their real name, on December 19th at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, celebrated the tenth anniversary of the band's existence. The event had to be held earlier than the actual date because they were set to soon go to Memphis to record their next with producer Jim Dickenson. They followed up their public celebration with cake at Mark's house on a later date.

Whereas before Mudhoney had recorded albums rather economically, this time around they got a full-sized recording budget from Reprise to achieve the album that they all felt they could make.

After finishing the album, the band kept a low profile for the first half of 1998, only playing a handful of shows along the West Coast. In August and September, Mudhoney played some shows, both supporting Pearl Jam and headlining, and did a large amount of press in anticipation of releasing their album Tomorrow Hit Today - the title being a reference to the song "When Tomorrow Hits." As usual, the Pearl Jam audiences greeted Mudhoney like they greet all opening acts, with a sea of indifference. Mudhoney found much more receptive audiences when they played headlining dates.

Released on September 22nd, Tomorrow Hit Today was met with almost universal critical acclaim. Nearly every review called it the best record that Mudhoney had created, and Rolling Stone magazine gave it four stars out of a possible five. The English press, however was not so kind. The very people that lauded the band during its Sub Pop hype-machine days greeted the release with catty comments such as "if Mudhoney persists in using such antiquated instruments such as drums and guitars, they should at least do something interesting with them" and "this should be Mudhoney's last record." The negative reviews seemed to be isolated to the British Isles.

Supporting the record, Mudhoney toured relentlessly through the Spring of 1999. They covered the United States multiple times, as well as playing Australia and Japan. After finishing those dates, they headed home for some well-deserved rest.

Change Has Come

During this time, Mudhoney was dropped from Reprise Records. The label was frustrated with Mudhoney's inability to sell an obscene amount of records, and Mudhoney was frustrated that the artist-friendly Reprise that they signed to in 1992 no longer existed. Mark said that he was happy to have severed ties because, with the exception of a few people, "the company didn't seem to give a shit or have a clue."

Shortly thereafter, in June, Matt decided to leave both the band and music. He hadn't enjoyed himself for the last few years, but stuck around to prevent the band from breaking up. According to Mark, "he said that he hasn't enjoyed touring for the last few years and that his heart isn't into playing music anymore… He didn't want to let the rest of us down, he also said go ahead and get somebody else and keep it going as Mudhoney and I won't get pissed off." Now that he's moved on, Matt is working as a carpenter.

In the wake of Matt's departure, Dan, Mark and Steve took a break from active involvement with Mudhoney, which many people incorrectly interpreted as meaning that the band had broken up. Mark and Steve got back together with The Monkeywrench, who. Dan played with a variety of musicians, including Matt Johnson.

Also during this time, the two-disc best-of and rarities collection finally began to come together after years of talk. Sub Pop planned on releasing a collection of songs from their catalog, and Mudhoney combined forces with them, bringing in their full catalog, to create a comprehensive collection. The set, March to Fuzz was released on January 18th, 2000. Mudhoney did little to promote this album, save for a handful of print and radio interviews.

In April, Mudhoney finally regrouped. Dan, Mark and Steve got back together to rehearse new songs. In doing this, Steve alternated between playing guitar and bass. When a few songs had been written, they went into the studio with Jack Endino and Wayne Kramer, formerly of the MC5 and currently A&R director for musicblitz.com. They recorded three songs, "Inside Job," "The Straight Life" and an untitled song that lacks lyrics. "Inside Job" was released as a free mp3 download on the musicblitz.com website, while the other two remain unreleased. Mark says that recording a few songs at a time in this manner is how they plan to handle their next album. "The idea is just to keep going (into the studio) and recording, until we have enough material for an album. We're going to do it kind of piecemeal, which is something we've never done before."

In May, Dan, Mark and Steve got together in another band, The New Strychnines. The Experience Music Project was attempting to get all of the big rock bands from the Northwest in the 1960's to play their grand opening concerts in June. They were able to get all of the groups that they desired, save for The Sonics. Scott McCaughey, of R.E.M. and The Young Fresh Fellows, decided to put together a group to perform Sonics songs in tribute and recruited Dan, Mark and Steve (on bass), along with Craig Florey, Tom Price of The Monkeywrench and Gas Huffer, and Bill Henderson of Girl Trouble. Christened The New Strychnines after The Sonics' song "Strychnine," they played three shows in Seattle in June and July and recorded at Studio Litho on July 26 with Kurt Bloch producing. The album remains unreleased.

Currently, Mark and Steve are touring with The Monkeywrench, who have shows booked through November. Dan continues to play with Mike Johnson. Mudhoney has no plans to perform or record as of yet.